Egypt

• Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, has called on the military to transfer power to a national government (see 3.24pm).

• Latest reports say the election result will be officially announced tomorrow. The ruling military council has blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for raising tensions by releasing election results early.

• Tens of thousands of Egyptians have converged on Tahrir Square in Cairo to protest against the ruling military council's power grab.

Syria

• The bodies of more than 25 men have been found in Aleppo province. Opposition sources suggest they were pro-Assad shabiha militiamen, while the government says they were citizens kidnapped by armed terrorist groups.

• A Turkish warplane is reported to have crashed in Syrian territorial waters. There are claims that the aircraft was shot down by Syria, that Syria has since apologised, and that the two crew have been rescued, though none of that can be confirmed at present.

• General Mowaffak Joumaa, head of Syria's Olympic committee, has been refused entry to the UK for the London games because of his links to President Assad and the Syrian military, the BBC reports.

• US defence secretary Leon Panetta has implicitly acknowledged that some countries are providing lethal aid to the Syrian opposition (see 11.02am)

Libya

• Libyan prime minister Abdulrahim el-Keib says the detained International Criminal Court lawyer Melinda Taylor is guilty of actions that "compromised national security" and will not be released. She was arrested with three other ICC officers earlier this month after meeting the indicted war crimes suspect Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

4.54pm:Syria: Here is a full transcript of Kofi Annan's opening remarks at the press conference in Geneva this afternoon:

It has been a long time that I haven't been back in this room but it is good to meet you here this afternoon. And I am happy to be able to join you this afternoon with General Mood whom you all know. I am pleased that he could join us. He is on his way back from New York to Syria.

As you would all remember, about a week ago, General Mood had to take a difficult decision when he decided temporarily to suspend the activities of the UN mission in Syria due to the escalation of violence. And I must say I supported that decision fully.

UN observers, as we all know, are in Syria to help the Syrian people at this critical hour. In the short time that they have been there, they have engaged not just with the parties, but with communities at all levels of society in the cities and towns where they have been deployed. They are keen to resume their work. Their commitment to the Syrian people has not faltered. But the circumstances must allow them to do their work. And we all know that they are unarmed men and women who are doing courageous work.

This can only happen when the protagonists on the ground take the strategic decision to stop the violence and to cooperate fully with the observers.

I urge all parties to heed the call for a cessation of violence in all its forms, first and foremost for the sake of the Syrian people, the children and women in particular. I think they have suffered for far too long and continue to suffer.

But if our efforts are to succeed, we shall need the united and sustained support of the international community. This is essential.

And that is why over the last few days, I have been in intensive consultations with a number of ministers and officials in capitals around the world about the possibility of convening a meeting of ministers to discuss what further actions could be taken to implement the security council resolutions.

It is time for countries of influence to raise the level of pressure on the parties on the ground, and to persuade them that it is in their interest to stop the killing and start talking.

When I briefed the security council, last time, actually earlier this month, I said: as we move forward, we should keep our goals firmly in view: to stop the killing, help the suffering population, secure a political transition, and ensure that the crisis does not spread to the neighbours.

The longer we wait, the darker Syria's future becomes. This process cannot be open-ended. It is urgent that our consultations yield real results soon. Otherwise, I fear we are reaching the day when it will be too late to stop the crisis from spiraling out of control.

The time to act is now.

4.50pm:Syria/Turkey: Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has arrived back in Turkey from Brazil and is expected to give a news conference in an hour or two. Hopefully, this will cast more light on the Turkish warplane which is reported to have crashed earlier today in Syrian territorial waters.

There are claims that the aircraft was shot down by Syria, that Syria has since apologised, and that the two crew have been rescued. None of that can be confirmed at present.

So far, there has been no public comment from the Syrian government and there are suggestions that neither Syria nor Turkey has much desire to turn the affair into a major confrontation.

• Accepting the ruling of the constitutional court• Rejecting the dissolution of parliament• Promising to appoint a government of national unity, if election confirmed• Claiming to have 'no dispute with Scaf'• Rejecting violent protest

Speaking through an al-Jazeera translator he said:

This wide spectrum that has come together today must discuss what to do at this critical moment. We held talks until 2am. Discussion was rich and comprehensive, cooperative. We all agreed on the key goals of the revolution: stability, security, democracy, freedom and the transition of power to an elected civilian authority.

We are waiting for the official results of the elections. What we disclosed before, were the tallies of election counts, as signed by judges. The results are already known and we cannot allow anyone to tamper with the results.

We wait to see if the official results are expressive of the free will of the people.

We respect the ruling of the constitutional court, however the resolution to dissolve the parliament is unacceptable. We do not accept the supplementary constitutional declaration handed down by the armed forces on Sunday.

All these rulings give rise to grave concerns to all of us.

If the president is from the Freedom and Justice Party, the vice president will not be from the party. My vice-presidents and deputies could be women, Christians, youth activists or even former presidential candidates.

The government will be a national unity government, representative of all spectrums of politics. I have been holding discussions about the prime minister designate and have found out that there are many suitable candidates. The prime minister designate will be announced soon.

This front represents the unity of all the political forces in Egypt.

We will continue to peacefully demonstrate. There were false reports that we were planning violence. We reject and denounce violence.

We have no problem with the judiciary. We may differ in our views with some judges. However we respect and honour the judiciary.

We have no problem or difference with the armed forces. They are the people of Egypt. Resolutions handed down by the armed forces may be right or wrong. However we have no dispute with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. They are honest Egyptian men. They are working for the better of Egypt.

We come together for the greater good for the supreme interest's of Egypt. If I am at the forefront of this united front, it will not sideline the others.

3.39pm:Syria: More from the press conference in Geneva. Gen Mood said:

Despite multiple efforts, civilians continue to be trapped in the line of fire. This is unacceptable by any standards.

All parties must abide by the obligation to keep civilians out of harm's way and it is the government that has primary responsibility.

What we are seeing is a level of destruction that begs rebuilding and reconstruction beyond the usual classification of humanitarian aid.

He said a lot of stakeholders in the conflict were "trying to buy time" – adding that he was referring to the situation on the ground.

Kofi Annan, who was also at the press conference, said it is time for countries with influence to raise the level of pressure on Syria and rebel groups to end violence in the country.

He said time is running out to implement his six-point plan for Syria, and he has invited world powers to meet in Geneva to discuss it on June 30 – though it is still uncertain whether the meeting will go ahead and details won't be finalised until next week.

Annan also reiterated his view that "Iran should be part of the solution" for bringing peace to Syria.

3.24pm:Egypt: The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohamed Morsi has called on the military to transfer power to a national government.

After discussions with leading politicians he said: "We all agreed on the supreme goals of the revolution: stability, security, freedom and the transfer of power from military to civilian rule."

He vowed that the protests will continue until the results of the election are announced. "We will continue to protest for the welfare and stability of Egypt," he said.

He added: "We respect the ruling of the courts, but we reject the military council's decision to dissolve parliament. We do not accept the new constitutional declarations to limit the power of the president."

He said if he was elected he would form a broad-based national government. He said there were many suitable figures for prime minister.

Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP

3.19pm:Syria: At a press conference in Geneva, Maj-Gen Robert Mood, head of the UN monitoring mission in Syria, said the are now mainly in their team sites or at headquarters.

"This doesn't mean they are doing nothing. From team sites they have views of the surrounding areas." Some of them are also in contact with hospitals and making telephone calls.

Gen Mood added that patrolling and exploring new areas is "not on the agenda", though as the monitors' mandate does not expire until 20 July they hope to "continue mandated tasks as soon as the situation allows".

On the question of sending more observers or arming them, Mood said: "I am far from convinced that would help the situation on the ground." He added that it is not always comfortable to be unarmed in such a situation but "it is our main source of strength".

2.51pm:Syria/Turkey: More on the Turkish warplane that is said to have crashed in Syrian territorial waters.

The pro-Iranian al-Mayadeen television station, based in Lebanon and citing Turkish sources, says it was shot down by Syrian air defences near the border with Turkey. There is no confirmation of that report.

Hurriyet (in Turkish) is reporting that the crew have now been found alive.

The Turkish state news agency Anatolia says the aircraft was an F-4 with two crew on board.

The F-4 is a two-seater twin-engined supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft.

2.45pm:Egypt: No word yet on the Morsi press conference. But a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Beltagy, has confirmed that the Nobel laureate, Mohamed ElBaradei, and the Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, who came fourth in the presidential election are backing a national coalition against the military.

The truck on the roadside looks like a typical shabiha truck, but there are far too many bodies for them to have all come from a single vehicle.

It's likely that Sana's account of the event is fairly accurate, though it's not likely that these men were civilians. From the look of their clothes (dark colours, some bodies have a mix of military uniform and civilian clothes) it's likely that these men were, indeed, shabiha, as the video claims.

Bassem Mroue of the Associated Press adds:

It was not clear whether the men were killed execution-style or died in clashes. An activist in the area, Mohammed Saeed, said rebels regularly collect the bodies of the dead from the government side and dump them by the side of the road so troops can come and collect them later.

Egypt

• The ruling military council has blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for raising tensions by releasing election results early. The council says announcing the results before an official statement was "unjustified" and is the main reason behind the confusion and divisions plaguing the political situation.

• Tens of thousands of Egyptians have converged on Tahrir Square in Cairo to protest against the ruling military council's power grab. Besides the Muslim Brotherhood, several other parties and revolutionary groups are supporting the protests including the Salafist al-Nour party, the April 6th Movement, and the Revolutionary Socialists.

• The election authorities are considering re-running elections in more than 100 polling station, according to Ahram Online.

Syria

• The bodies of more than 25 men have been found in Aleppo province. Opposition sources suggest they were pro-Assad shabiha militiamen, while the government says they were citizens kidnapped by armed terrorist groups.

• General Mowaffak Joumaa, head of Syria's Olympic committee, has been refused entry to the UK for the London games because of his links to President Assad and the Syrian military, the BBC reports.

• US defence secretary Leon Panetta has implicitly acknowledged that some countries are providing lethal aid to the Syrian opposition. He said the US had "made a decision not to provide lethal assistance at this point" but added: "I know others have made their own decisions" (see 11.02am)

• Members of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle are making plans to defect to the opposition should the Syrian regime become critically threatened by the rebellion, a US official told the Telegraph. "We are seeing members of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle make plans to leave," the official said.

Libya

• Libyan prime minister Abdulrahim el-Keib says the detained International Criminal Court lawyer Melinda Taylor is guilty of actions that "compromised national security" and will not be released. She was arrested with three other ICC officers earlier this month after meeting the indicted war crimes suspect Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

Egypt's ruling military council criticised the two presidential candidates for making premature claims of victory on Friday and said it would stand by a decree limiting the new president's powers, which many see as prolonging military rule.

As thousands of mainly Islamist protesters gathered for weekly prayers on Cairo's Tahrir Square, the army said people were free to protest as long as they did not disrupt daily life but flatly rejected their demands that it rescind the dissolution of parliament and an order giving itself more power.

The move was justified "during this critical period" for the good of the country, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) said in a statement broadcast on state television.

Criticising the candidates, though not by name, it said: "Anticipating the announcement of the presidential election results before they are announced officially is unjustifiable and is one of the main causes of division and confusion prevailing the political arena."

Responding to complaints, the council said in its statement: "The issuance of the supplementary constitutional decree was necessitated by the needs of administering the affairs of the state during this critical period in the history of our nation."

"The rule of law is the basis of governance in the state," it said. "The state shall be subject to the law and independent judiciary, whose independence and immunity are two basic guarantees to safeguard rights and freedoms.

1.13pm:Egypt: The ruling military council has blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for raising tensions in the country by releasing election results early, AP reports.

The military council says announcing the results before an official statement was "unjustified" and is the main reason behind the confusion and divisions plaguing the political situation.

Scaf also confirmed the dissolution of parliament, according to reports.

Summary#SCAF statement: Dissolution of parliament will not be revoked, constitutional declaration stays, and we'll use force when needed.

The Muslim Brotherhood have upped the ante. Even before the Friday noon prayers Tahrir Square was full. It is almost like the original 18 days in that respect. They are keeping up the pressure until the election results are announced.

No one can fill up the square with these numbers accept the Muslim Brotherhood, and the other Islamist blocs. But other revolutionary are coming out too.

This a message from the Muslim Brotherhood, that 'we are keeping up the pressure until we get something'. It is a negotiating ploy. They have the numbers to do this. They are going to keep people there at least until the results are announced. They have a lot at stake right now, and it really is squeaky bum time for the Muslim Brotherhood. The next few days are decisive for their future.

If there is internal dissent within the Brotherhood it is behind closed doors. They are putting up a united front.

Abdu speculates that the Brotherhood is in negotiate with the military over the future of presidency and the parliament. But he added:

More important is the constitution. That's really what the fight is about, that's really what concerns the military council. They don't want the constitution to be monopolised by Islamist forces, which was the case up until the dissolution of parliament.

Former prime minster Ahmed Shafiq was very "cocksure and confident" that he had won the race in yesterday's press conference, Abdu said.

Hillary Clinton's criticism of revolutionaries will be ignored in Cairo, Abdu added:

Comments from US officials have had very little bearing on the situation in Egypt anymore. This military is backed to the tune of $1.3bn a year by the US. This military is most at fault for the impasse we are in. They are pulling the rug from democracy in Egypt. They are doing it with the tacit blessing of the US, so US officials are not ones to talk.

12.47pm:Syria: Twenty-six men believed to be pro-government shabiha have been killed in Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

A very gruesome video posted on YouTube shows a number of bodies covered in blood and piled on top of each other at the side of a road. Some are in army fatigues and others in civilian clothes.

The government news agency Sana also has a report which is thought to refer to the same incident:

Armed terrorist groups on Friday kidnapped a number of citizens in Daret Azzeh area in the countryside of Aleppo, according to oficial sources in the province.

The sources later confirmed that the terrorist groups in Daret Azzeh committed a brutal massacre against the citizens, whom they had kidnapped earlier on the day, through shooting them dead and then mutilating their bodies.

The sources added that initial information indicates that more than 25 of the kidnapped citizens were killed in Daret Azzeh massacre, with the fate of the rest of the kidnapped people is still unknown.

12.12pm:Egypt: The military council's statement has been put back to 1.30pm (12.30pm BST) amid speculation about what it may contain.

Journalist Alaa Bayoumi tweets:

Expected statement by #SCAF to call on people to protect security, stability of the country, and warn against chaos. #Egypt

But its sources claim that the Supreme Presidential Elections Committee's figures show that Morsi was the winner of last weekend's runoff.

Sources also confirmed that Morsi got more votes in SPEC's count: which, they suggest, would not be reversed even if disputed votes are discounted. The only way Morsi's win could be reversed, they say, is if re-elections are held in disputed polling stations. Excluding whole stations from the results would affect both candidates which would still leave Mursi still in the lead.

11.25am:Syria: There have been expectations for some time that General Mowaffak Joumaa, head of Syria's Olympic committee, would be refused entry to the UK for the London games on the grounds of his links to President Assad and the Syrian military.

Now, though, it appears to be official. Jon Wiliams of the BBC tweets:

Gen. Mowaffak Journa refused visa to attend #Olympics because of "close links to Assad regime". IOC will be informed later today #Syria

11.02am:Syria: US defence secretary Leon Panetta (left) has implicitly acknowledged that some countries are providing lethal aid to the Syrian opposition.

In an interview yesterday, he said the US had "made a decision not to provide lethal assistance at this point" but added: "I know others have made their own decisions."

While insisting that "it's very important right now that everybody focus on a smooth and responsible political transition," he also appeared not to rule out US provision of lethal assistance in the future.

Yesterday, it was reported that CIA officers in Turkey are "helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms".

So far, Gulf states have not specifically said they are arming the opposition. Last April they said they would channel funds to the Syrian National Council to pay fighters in the Free Syrian Army and those who dared to defect from the Assad regime.

Essam el-Erian, vice-chairman of Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, said the sit-in in Tahrir Square would continue until parliament is reinstated.

In an interview with al-Jazeera he said: "The parliament was elected by the will of the people, and the will of the people must be respected. On the other hand, the constitutional court ruling does not mean the dissolution of parliament. Therefore, we're saying 'We are in liberty square, until parliament returns'. The court's ruling is limited to individual seats only. Parliament is quite capable of dealing with this decision."

The youth activists are likely to overreach: They will overstate their public support, make their demands too high, push for them too hard, and - sadly - be targeted for the most violent response.

The Brotherhood, on the other hand, may already be hedging its bets: It is reportedly negotiating with the SCAF. So despite the Brotherhood's talk about "completing the revolution," it could back down at any moment - presumably, as long as it's given the share of power it has long sought ....

The protests are not affecting anything beyond Tahrir Square, and there is a large segment of the Egyptian public that opposes them - at least in form, if not in substance. The next stage of Egypt's post-Mubarak transition will thus likely be a sustained confrontation between the Scaf on one hand and an uncomfortable coalition of revolutionary youth activists and Islamists on the other. There may be moments of intense violence, and others of negotiated calm. But unless these demonstrations are capable of capturing the broader public, they will likely be a much more contained affair than last year's revolution.

10.17am:Syria/Israel: A Syrian man has been detained by Israeli forces after crossing the fence into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, al-Jazeera reports.

It appears that the man is currently being treated as "an infiltrator" rather than a refugee from the Assad regime. Ynetnews says:

Sources in the defence establishment said this is not the first time this year that a Syrian citizen tries to infiltrate Israel via the Golan Heights.

Defence officials recently estimated that clashes in Syria could spill over to the border area and conjectured that Syrians may seek refuge in Israel.

10.11am:Syria: The number of people needing humanitarian assistance has risen to 1.5m from the previous estimate of 1m, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said today.

The World Food Programme had distributed food to 461,000 Syrians by mid-June and aims to increase that number to 850,000 in July, officials said.

Increasing violence has made it extremely difficult to establish the field presence so important for ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid. Humanitarian deliveries do continue, however, though not at the pace we had hoped and as required by the needs.

The generals thrive on American aid and are plainly nervous about seizing untrammelled power. By pressing them to negotiate with Morsi over a constitution to provide for a new parliament, the United States and Europe could tip the balance in democracy's favour.

The military has to assume an appropriate role, which is not to try to interfere with, dominate, or subvert the constitutional authority. They have to get a constitution written. There's a lot of work ahead of them.

We also believe it is very much in Egypt's interest, while they're facing political turmoil and economic difficulties, to honour the peace treaty with Israel. The last thing they need is to make a decision that would undermine their stability. And furthermore, we think it's important that they reassert law and order over the Sinai, which is becoming a large, lawless area, and that they take seriously the internal threats from extremists and terrorists. So they have a lot ahead of them.

If Shafiq wins

The Brotherhood will take advantage of the enmity the revolutionaries have towards the military rulers, whom it suspects of wanting to remain in power with Mr Shafiq as their front man.

There are fears that the situation could turn violent, like in Algeria where an estimated 150,000 people died in the years after the 1992 elections were scrapped when it became clear that the Islamists had won.

However, the Brotherhood has been trying to play down this scenario.

If Morsi wins

While there may not be a major reaction to a Morsi victory on the streets, there is likely to be a confrontation at a different level: between Mr Mursi and what is now called the "deep state".

The army has already secured complete control over its own affairs, limited the president's powers and ensured a future role in drafting the new constitution.

A third scenario

Although people are expecting an imminent announcement of the election result, an unexpected scenario could unfold: cancellation of the results and a re-run of the elections, at least in some provinces.

Farouq Sultan, the head of the election commission, has reportedly said that as many as a million votes could be invalid.

The streets are mostly empty and totally silent, save for a distant but steady stream of gunshots. At one point, the videographer finds a group of young men – the only people we see are young men, everyone else appears to have fled or hidden in the few still-habitable homes – evacuating, from the back of a sedan to the bed of a pickup truck, a wounded and obviously terrified rebel fighter.

Somehow, it's the scenes with no action at all that are the most unnerving: a long row of burned-out cars, streets blanketed with cinderblocks blown out of neighbouring buildings, a complete dining room set perched in what remains of a third-floor apartment and totally exposed after the ceiling and wall have been destroyed, presumably by the Syrian government's near-constant shelling of this city of 750,000 people.

There is a widespread belief that the Muslim Brotherhood is involved in high stakes negotiations over the result of the elections and the dissolution of parliament, the podcast discussed. It said there is a noticeable lack of outrage among secularists at the dissolution of parliament because of their antipathy to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Talking on a New Yorker podcast he describes his incredulity that so few of the Brotherhood's MPs protested outside parliament following its dissolution. He also criticises the Brotherhood for failing to build alliances with secularists when the parliament was in operation. "I think they are negotiating with the military council," he said. He added: "The thing that would lead to spontaneous demonstrations, is if the [electoral] commission announces that [Ahmed] Shafiq won the election. Then you're going to a see a lot of people out on the square and probably a lot of angry people." Wendell Steavenson, told the programme there is hope for Egypt if Morsi is declared the victor. "The fact that Morsi won and not Shafiq, means it was a free and unrigged election. That is not a small thing. If this is ratified the idea that for the first time in their history Egyptians have popularly, legitimately elected a leader is not a small thing. That process gives me hope."

Democracy is not about one election, one time ... One of the stories that will emerge even more in the months ahead is that the people who started the revolution in Tahrir Square decided they wouldn't really get involved in politics. I remember going to Cairo shortly after the success of the revolution, meeting with a large group of these mostly young people. And when I said, 'So are you going to form a political party? Are you going to be working on behalf of political change?' They said, 'Oh no. We're revolutionaries. We don't do politics.' ... I sat there and I thought that's how revolutions get totally derailed, taken over, undermined.